CRUSE includes only single stage trips of up to 20 km in a straight line or 30 km route distance. The total number of 2 way trips to work or education on a typical school day for Laois is 44,080. Because some trips are excluded from the analysis — long distance trips and business trips — the proportion of these ‘POWSCAR’ trips represented in CRUSE is 65% of the total: 28652 trips.

The analysis also includes cyclable trips for other purposes: shopping, social, personal and recreational, representing 43,654 trips in total.

The population of Laois is 79,502, meaning that 55.4% of the population regularly travel to work or study.

Trips by purpose

Because of the reliability of census-derived POWSCAR data, the statistics on this page focus on these trip purposes. In Laois, 14,483 daily trips (of <20km length) are represented in CRUSE for travel to work, 8,524 to primary education, 5,012 to secondary education, and 496 to tertiary education. These trips are shown in the graph below.

Trips by mode

The majority of trips to work and study (primary, secondary or tertiary education) are currently made by car (72%). Cycling represented 1% of the trips to work and study in the 2016 census.

The mode share of cycling for these trips is as follows, based on the Electoral Division in which each trip originates.

Trips by purpose and mode

Trips by purpose and mode are shown for purposes for which we have data from POWSCAR.

Car trips represent 77% of total trips to work. Educational trips have a higher proportion of trips by active modes (walking and cycling).

Trips by distance and mode

##  [1] "route_number"             "geo_code1"               
##  [3] "geo_code2"                "length_route"            
##  [5] "cyclists"                 "cyclists_near"           
##  [7] "cyclists_climate"         "cyclists_godutch"        
##  [9] "cyclists_ebike"           "drivers"                 
## [11] "drivers_near"             "drivers_climate"         
## [13] "drivers_godutch"          "drivers_ebike"           
## [15] "passengers"               "passengers_near"         
## [17] "passengers_climate"       "passengers_godutch"      
## [19] "passengers_ebike"         "public_transport"        
## [21] "public_transport_near"    "public_transport_climate"
## [23] "public_transport_godutch" "public_transport_ebike"  
## [25] "foot"                     "foot_near"               
## [27] "foot_climate"             "foot_godutch"            
## [29] "foot_ebike"               "other"                   
## [31] "other_near"               "other_climate"           
## [33] "other_godutch"            "other_ebike"             
## [35] "all_modes"                "quietness"               
## [37] "gradient_smooth"          "name"                    
## [39] "purpose"                  "geometry"

In Laois, the vast majority of cycling trips to work and study are for distances up to 10 kilometers, specifically 92% of the total cycling trips.

The following graphs show how work and educational trips by distance bands and modes of transport vary according to the CRUSE scenarios of future cycle uptake. Cycling trips increase in all of these scenarios, although some are more ambitious than others. The most ambitious scenario is Ebike followed by Go Dutch, Climate Action Plan, and Near Market.